Harlequin Dumps Romance Writers' E-Book Royalties Suit

Law360, New York (April 3, 2013, 3:51 PM EDT) -- A New York federal judge on Tuesday tossed a proposed class action that had accused romance novel publisher Harlequin Enterprises Ltd. of cheating authors out of royalties for e-books.

U.S. District Judge Harold Baer Jr. ruled in favor of the publisher, rejecting the authors' allegations that Harlequin owed them a 50 percent royalty rate on sales of e-books but was using contractual trickery to pay a substantially reduced percentage.

According to the authors, Harlequin had them sign their book deals with a Swiss subsidiary, which then...